My new and unusual obsession…

Strange for me, I know. But I love Zenyatta. I’m fairly obsessed with her and I’ve never even paid attention to horse racing before. It started about 18 months ago when I was watching show on Animal Planet, Jockeys. I really liked Mike Smith and he was vying for a chance to race Zenyatta and he thought she was so special. It seems that was a nugget of information that got tucked away in my brain because when the show ended, I actually looked online to see how Zenyatta was doing and if Mike was still racing her. Thus began my love affair with an enormous mare.

I’ve been trying to figure out what I love about her and I think it’s a combination of many things but overall, I think I see so much of what I hope is in myself, in her. First, she’s gentle which is very rare for a race horse. Most are tempermental but not Zenyatta. She has up to 14 people a day working with her and unlike most race horses, fans can approach her without fear of being stomped. I’m sure part of this is that she knows how loved she is. She is never alone; someone even sleeps with her. I don’t think I would like the never alone part but I love that she knows how loved she is and she allows it to relax her.

Another trait I find endearing? She waits. She goes into a race and waits. She never takes the lead first but she knows full well the entire time what she is doing and that she can win but she doesn’t feel a need to show it off. She just patiently waits in the back of the pack and when Mike says, ‘go’ she does. I love it. She knows who she is and what she is capable of and she doesn’t have to prove it to a single soul. Mike says he still doesn’t think he’s seen her at full throttle which makes me love her even more; she knows how to hold back, she has self discipline.

I am coming off an extremely long and busy year. Not a bad year but a very busy year with a lot of pressure and a lot of requirement. Somewhere in that year I lost the ability to take care of myself as I went from task to task making sure everything was taken care of. In the past 2 weeks I have been very focused to regain some time for myself, connect with my thoughts and regroup. I have been reminded that I too am self disciplined, I’m patient and I don’t have a need to throw my talents up in other people’s faces. I am, for the most part, free of concern of what anybody outside of my cricle of trust thinks about me. But here is the thing: I don’t relax easily. I think that is what I am so attracted to in Zenyatta. That is the quality she possesses that I want to grasp. I have mastered being mellow but I’ve not yet mastered relaxing and easing up on myself.

On Saturday hopefully we will see history made as Zenyatta wins the Breeder’s Cup. It will mean she retires with a 20:0 record. Never been done by a mare. I know everyone around her knows she can do it and I think she agrees with them.